Raiders Hall of Famer Warns Fernando Mendoza Against One Thing

Fernando Mendoza wears No. 15 like Patrick Mahomes and now plays for Tom Brady, a minority owner of the Las Vegas Raiders.

Pro Football Hall of Famer and iconic Raiders wide receiver Tim Brown wants Mendoza to forget about that.

“Don’t try and be Tom Brady; don’t try and be Patrick Mahomes,” Brown told Raiders team reporter Levi Edwards for this exceptional piece. “Just be who you are. Because at the end, it’s always going to come down to that anyway. You can plan to do this and plan to do that, but what’s in you is what’s always going to come out of you in the end.”

Edwards’ piece is about former Raiders who won the Heisman Trophy and became Pro Football Hall of Famers: Brown, Marcus Allen, and Charles Woodson. All three offered advice to Mendoza, who won the Heisman last December and went No. 1 overall to the Raiders in the 2026 NFL Draft on April 23.

Mendoza has been repeatedly effusive about lucking into becoming Brady’s newest mentee.

“Who hasn’t admired Tom Brady, guys?” Mendoza said at February’s scouting combine. “I mean, more Super Bowl rings than anybody. That opportunity would be fantastic. Tom Brady, I believe, is the greatest quarterback of all time by a wide margin, and to be able to have the opportunity to be mentored by him, it would mean so much.”

While content farmers are convinced Mendoza already mirrors Brady’s throwing mechanics, Mendoza hasn’t dwelled on the Brady of it all. The young quarterback has just as often asserted that he only cares about becoming the best quarterback he can be for the Raiders.

“I haven’t proved anything,” Mendoza said during his introductory press conference with the Raiders on April 24. “My college career was very blessed, and it was great - very significant career - however, in the NFL, I’m at the bottom of the totem pole again. I’m really looking forward to proving it every single day to everybody in the building.”

Raiders fans hope Mendoza proves to be the franchise quarterback who can lead them to their first playoff win since January 2003.

But Mendoza isn’t expected to start Week 1 for the Raiders. Las Vegas signed veteran Pro Bowl quarterback Kirk Cousins - the perfect counterpart for Mendoza - and first-year head coach Klint Kubiak has said that Mendoza would sit and learn behind Cousins “in a perfect world.”

Mendoza seems to be a sponge already. He has downplayed the fact he just led the Indiana Hoosiers to their first national championship in program history - reasserting that his college resume doesn’t transfer to the NFL - and opted to skip Indiana’s White House trip because it wouldn’t be “a good look” to miss practice as a rookie.

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This story was originally published May 7, 2026 at 8:41 PM.